


let me help

by lipsstainedbloodred



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Ficlet, First Impressions, M/M, jeremy being a badass, jeremy protecting jean, the trojans - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 14:49:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10969476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lipsstainedbloodred/pseuds/lipsstainedbloodred
Summary: “Let me help?” Jeremy asks and his soulful eyes are filled with something that Jean can’t identify.Jean’s nodding before he can help himself.





	let me help

**Author's Note:**

> for the tumblr prompt: i'm literally always down for sunshine child jeremy knox being an all around badass and looking out for his team??? 
> 
> you can follow me on tumblr @cigarettesmokeandexyracquets

Jean Moreau’s first impression of Jeremy Knox is that someone, somewhere had allowed their puppy to be morphed into a human. Jeremy is close to Jean’s height but an inch or two shorter, he has dark skin and big brown eyes framed by too many eyelashes. His curly brown hair falls in sweeps across his forehead and if Jean bothered to stare long enough he’d notice the smattering of freckles along Jeremy’s right cheek bone. Jeremy is a too wide smile and fierce as the Califonia summer sun.

Days roll by and nothing changes. Jeremy is as sunny on the court as he is off of it. The Trojans are a laid back and vibrant group of people and being around them for too long makes Jean’s skin itch. They act like the biggest merry group of assholes that Jean’s ever met and he can’t stand it.

Even worse is the way the never push and never pry. They wave to him in the hallway and say hello when they pop into his and Jeremy’s shared dorm. They ask him to eat lunch with them and just smile in reply to his icy stares and cold  _‘no’_. It’s too much. After years of not having time to himself, of being frightened and alone and clinging to the bare thread of survival their warmth and kindness is suffocating.

“What do you need?” Jeremy asks him.

 _Less of you_ , Jean does not say.

Summer bleeds into fall and when the time comes for Jean to make his class schedule he has a meltdown and ends up at the court. He runs bleachers and practices drills and tries not to think about why having to make his own decisions feels like a death sentence.

Jean does and does not expect it when Jeremy knocks hard on the sealed court doors and startles him out of his practice. He’s sore from his shoulders to his feet but he’s played in far worse conditions. Still, it’s an effort to drag himself over to the court doors and open them up.

“Let me help?” Jeremy asks and his soulful eyes are filled with something that Jean can’t identify.

Jean’s nodding before he can help himself.

“Okay,” Jeremy says, he’s smiling up at Jean now. It’s one of his secret smiles that he shares for his closest friends. Jean’s not sure how he feels about that. “Shower first, then come back to the dorm. We’ll do this together.”

 _Together_ is something that Jean has had a lot of, but it’s never felt like this before. Together has always been oppression and pain, vengeance and anger, but this feels like something gentle and comforting. Jean wonders if this is what friendship feels like, and if so it’s something more and less than what he and Kevin had shared. It feels tentative and brittle and Jean wants to nurture it.

“Okay,” Jean says, and for the first time smiles at Jeremy in return.

-

Jean knew his first time on camera after the transfer would be a mess, he just wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. “Jean there’s been rumors that Riko was the one to break Kevin’s hand, can you tell us more about that?”

Jean can’t hear much past the blood rushing in his ears. He needs to say something soon but his lips feel glued together and he’s shaking apart inside. He can’t tell them, he _can’t_. Why did Kevin have to be so _stupid_? 

“I’m sorry,” comes Jeremy’s deep voice at his side and Jean turns his head to look at him in surprise. Jeremy’s normally relaxed shoulders are tense with a barely hidden anger, his face sharp and cold in a way Jean’s never see it before. Jean remembers thinking  _‘puppy’_ at their first meeting and changes the comparison to  _‘guard dog’_. “I’m sure we were talking about Jean and his career with the Trojans, how did we get on the subject of Kevin Day?”

The interviewer looks startled and turns his head back to Jeremy. “Well,” The man says, slightly stiff, “Jean and Kevin spent a lot of time together-”

“I’m sure they did,” Jeremy’s grin is wolfish, “Before Jean was a Trojan. Did you see the save he made last night during our game against Stanford? It was beautiful. A combination of footwork he’s learned since starting at USC and the knowledge he’s carried over from Edgar Allen.” Jeremy leans back in his chair, giving off a more relaxed vibe but the tension is thick in the air. “Jean’s been invaluable to us since he arrived back in May and I for one can’t wait to see where he’s going to help lead this team.”

“You talk like he’s your Vice Captain,” The interview says with a slight chuckle.

“Next year,” Jeremy says easily, like there’s no debate.

Jean is floored. He’s sure he’d be staring at Jeremy like he had two heads if it weren’t for the composure he learned back at The Nest.

“Well then,” The interviewer says, “we’ll be expecting great things from Jean Moreau.”

Jeremy smiles and it’s more relaxed, his normal interview smile, “You should be.”

-

“Vice Captain?” Jean asks on their ride back to USC.

Jeremy smiles sheepishly, a far cry from the almost sneer he’d given the interviewer, “I meant to talk to you about it before. I’m asking Laila to take over as Captain when I leave, but she might need help. I took over as Captain in my junior year as well and it’s nice to have some back up on the court. I was going to ask you if you wanted to be Vice Captain.”

“You were going to ask.” Jean says, “Are you not now?”

“Bad phrasing,” Jeremy replies, “I am going to ask, I was just going to wait a while longer. Will you take over as Vice Captain next year, Jean?”

Jean drums his fingers nervously along the side of the door, a nervous habit he’s picked up in the past months. Jeremy doesn’t pry, just continues driving them back to campus without glancing at Jean. “Yes,” Jean says, “I will do that.”

Jeremy’s smile is a thousand watt beam of light and Jean feels like he needs to shield himself from it. He doesn’t though. He hasn’t for a while. 

“Thank you,” Jean says as they pull into the dorm parking lot. He means thank you for coming to his aid during the interview, for being patient with him over the summer when he was angry and lashing out, for simply being and becoming someone Jean could trust. He means a million things all at once and he knows Jeremy will understand all of it.

“Of course, I’d do anything for you Jean.” Jeremy says and Jean knows he means it.


End file.
